Short Courses

A list of non-symposium RRNW Short Courses offered throughout the year

Most river restoration professionals have never received formal training in facilitation, and virtual environments add a layer of complexity that in-person instincts alone don’t address. This four-session virtual course offers a practical framework for leading groups effectively online. Participants will learn to design sessions with clear purpose, read and manage group dynamics in real time, and use high-leverage facilitation tools including Liberating Structures. Sessions are held via Zoom with office hours available for individual coaching and meeting design support.

Instructor: Maggie Chumbley – Founder, Lead Groups Better, Inc.
Dates: Tuesdays & Thursdays September 15, 17, 22, 24 (10am–12pm Noon PT)
Location: Zoom
Pricing: Stay Tuned

Living Better with Beavers will explore and define beaver coexistence strategies that are effective and scalable to match the growing interest in and needed prioritization of natural climate solutions. If you are working in restoration or water management, from low-tech process-based restoration, large wood placement, wetland mitigation, transportation infrastructure maintenance, meadow remaking, beaver-based restoration, agricultural irrigation, beaver relocation, or stormwater management, coexistence is an essential management and climate resilience tool to add to your toolkit.

Join us for a deep dive into conserving existing beaver habitat and expanding beaver benefits by managing human conflicts with our native ecosystem engineer, the American Beaver!

Instructors: Alexa Whipple – Project Director, Methow Okanogan Beaver Project, a program of Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation, graduate of BeaverCorps, Beaver Institute
Elyssa Kerr – Executive Director, Beavers Northwest
Dates: October 8-9, 2026
Location: Twisp & Winthrop WA, Methow River Watershed
Pricing: Stay Tuned

In partnership with Portland State University, this short course covers the fluvial processes responsible for erosion, transport, and deposition of sediment within rivers, providing a fundamental understanding of how sediment dynamics drive channel formation, adjustment, and evolution. The course also deals with how sediment dynamics can be investigated and accounted for in the contexts of practical river management and restoration. The aim is to teach students how to select the appropriate sediment analysis and tool for application in different river management and restoration contexts and projects.

Instructors: Colin Thorne, Brian Bledsoe, Steve Winter, Mason Lacy
Dates: Tuesdays & Thursdays January 6–January 29, 2026 (2–4pm Pacific Time) and Monday, February 2, 2026 (8am–5pm Pacific Time)
Location: Hybrid – see course schedule for full details
Note: The last day of this course takes place during the week of the 2026 RRNW Symposium and the schedule competes with other Monday Short Courses held at Skamania Lodge on Feb 2, 2026. Therefore, students registering for this River Sediment Dynamics course will be unable to register for and attend a different full-day or half-day short courses during the symposium.

Transform your ability to lead impactful meetings and guide collaborative decision-making with this intensive two-day facilitation skills workshop. Whether you’re navigating complex stakeholder discussions, leading project teams, or facilitating public engagement sessions, this training will equip you with immediately applicable tools and techniques. Led by Maggie Chumbley, founder of Lead Groups Better Inc. and an expert in public sector facilitation, participants will master essential facilitation skills while building confidence to handle all kinds of group dynamics. Leave with a robust toolkit of proven strategies ready to elevate your next meeting and gain a reputation for productivity, engagement and navigating tough challenges.

Instructor: Maggie Chumbley
Dates: October 29-30, 2025
Location: Ecotrust Building, Portland, Oregon

Join Alexa Whipple, Chris Jordan, Emily Fairfax and Colin Thorne at the Mount St Helens Eco Park this Fall for a 3-day Beaver short course! You’ll learn about their natural history, find out how to read beaver signs, tour beaver colonies, discuss recolonization, live trapping, and relocation best practices, and get hands-on experience with: assessing site suitability for beaver reintroduction; designing and installing BDAs (Beaver Dam Analogs) and PALs (Post- Assisted Log Structures), and; using various devices that help beavers and people co-exist. Each day will begin with classroom briefings, but will be predominantly field-based. We will also organize informal evening talks by local experts and ‘beaver watches’ to observe the animals at work.

Instructors: Emily Fairfax, Chris Jordan, Colin Thorne, and Alexa Whipple
Dates: October 7-9, 2025
Location: Eco Park Resort, Toutle, Washington